Devoted to purchasing, purchasing agents, and all things related

There seems to be a theme running through my reading and writing today.  It's about the opportunity to lock in prices, which means guaranteeing that you can buy a commodity or service in the future at a specified price, which is often the current price of the item or service at the time of the deal.

For a story on locking in gas prices, see this post.

There may be another new kid on the block in this business...locking in postage from the USPS.  Read on...

The Postal Service is considering raising rates in May 2007.   (Didn't they just raise the rates on us in January?  Gas prices are killing their margins too.  In fact CNN reports that each penny increase in the price of a gallon of gas costs the USPS 8 million dollars!)

Part of the new proposal includes a "forever stamp" which would allow the holder to mail a letter at any time in the future regardless of rate increases. 

This is a brilliant idea as it would allow businesses and individuals to lock in current rates for as long as they want to/as much as they want to invest in postage reserves.

It would also alleviate some of the shortages that occur every time there is a rate increase.  Many post offices don't get the enough new stamps on time and they run out of small denomination stamps as customers use those to add to their old ones to reach the new levels.

Should the forever stamp proposal pass, I hope it get a better name!  Also, I wonder if it will create a secondary market in selling stamps.  Someone could purchase the forever stamps and hold them until the next postal increase at which time they could be sold for more than their original cost, but less than the cost of the then current rate increase.  There  are probably be more lucrative ways to make a profit, though.